Best Places To Visit & Things To Do in Taiwan – 2025 Taiwan Travel Guide!

Looking for the best places to visit and best things to do in Taiwan? You’ve come to the right place! 

In February I spent a week exploring Taiwan with the Taiwan Tourism Board, visiting both famous and iconic sights, as well as more hidden gems.

We also did a variety of activities, which are a great addition to any Taiwan itinerary.

Whether you’re looking to eat your way around a Taiwanese street food market, or to witness the magic of the Taiwan lantern festival, or even discover Taiwan’s hiking trails, this is the ultimate Taiwan travel guide for you.

So what are you waiting for? Read on, and discover the most fun activities and best places to visit in Taiwan! 

About Taiwan

Located in East Asia, the island of Taiwan is a unique melting pot with a vibrant culture, stunning landscapes, advanced technology and delicious cuisine. It’s a hidden gem waiting to be explored.

Taiwan is very hilly and has a lush green vegetation, which paired to its dramatic sea and coastline views, makes for an excellent hiking destination. But its not just outdoors lovers that will enjoy Taiwan.

It also has a rich tapestry of cultural traditions, blended with high tech vibrant city life, which makes it a great destination also for travellers who love culture, history and just generally soaking in the vibe of the places they travel to.

You can fly to Taiwan from London direct with Eva Air (use the code EVATW for 10% off your flight!) as well as other European cities like Vienna, and of course from most other main cities and hubs in Asia.

Want to see more of Taiwan? Check out my YouTube video!

Best things to do in Taiwan

Participate in the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival

The Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival was nominated by Discovery Channel and National Geographic as one of the best festivals in the world.

So if you’re visiting Taiwan in February when it’s on, you should definitely try to check it out!

Unlike the Taiwan Lantern Festival, which is on every day for several weeks, the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival only takes place on two dates.

Usually the two Saturdays closest to the Lantern Festival Date (this changes every year depending on the Lunar Calendar and New Year).

We went to the one in Shifen, which was a great shout since it also gave us the opportunity to see Shifen Old Street, a scenic historical street where travellers come every day to fly lanterns with their wishes from the train tracks.

On the day of the Sky Lantern Festival, people can still fly lanterns from the train tracks, but on top of that you can also witness, and participate in, the mass release of hundreds of lanterns from a big area just outside Shifen.

There is a mass release every twenty minutes from 6PM to 9PM, for a total of 9 lantern releases, so you will have quite a few opportunities to see the lanterns as they fly over you and their twinkling lights disappear from sight in the night sky.

There is a stage in front of the mass release site, and they have dances and performances on in between releases which is also fun to watch.

It’s a magical experience, and without a doubt one of the best things to do in Taiwan.

Visit Shifen Old Street

If you’re not in Taiwan during the Lantern Festival, you should still pay a visit to Shifen. This cute town is one of the most popular attractions in Taiwan, and it’s easy to see why.

Shifen is a old mining town built on the historical Pingxi railway line, which was built in 1918 to transport coal from mines in the Pingxi Valley to Taipei.

It’s a very picturesque town, with lots of cute shops and foodie spots. But the main attraction is without a doubt Shifen Old Street, the railway track from which travellers can fly their lanterns.

The Pingxi Valley is the only place in Taiwan where it’s legal to do so, so travellers flock to Shifen to fly their lanterns and visit this quaint town.

Fly a sky lantern at Jingtong Old Street

Since Shifen tends to get very busy, we actually flew our own lanterns at Jingtong Old Street instead, another town on the Pingxi Railway Line.

The tradition of writing wishes on lanterns supposedly started in the 1800s, when this region was plagued by bandits, and villagers would fly lanterns to inform friends and family who were living high in the mountains, that the area was free of bandits.

Since they fly so high, people then took the habit to writing their wishes to the gods on the lanterns, and thus a tradition was born.

Compared to Shifen, Jingtong Old Street is much quieter, but it has a very similar look and architecture.

There were quite a few cute shops and foodie spots here too, and flying our lanterns from the train tracks without the crowds was pretty magical.

See the Taiwan Lantern Festival

While the Pingxi Sky Lantern Festival is the mos famous lantern festival in Taiwan, what many people don’t know is that there is also another Taiwan Lantern Festival, which takes place every year in a different city in Taiwan.

This is basically like a big fair, where you will find loads of beautiful illuminated lanterns and light displays, as well as a main stage with talks, concerts and performances.

There are also stalls selling street food, drinks and souvenirs.

It’s spread out over quite a big area, so you can spend a fun few hours walking around, admiring the different displays and just soaking in the atmosphere of this beautiful lantern festival.

See the view from Taipei 101

In 2004 Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world, until it was overtaken by Burj Khalifa in Dubai in 2009.

It’s still the tallest building in Taiwan, and it offers incredible views over Taipei and the surrounding hills.

The main observatory is located on floor 89, at 382 metres, where you’ll also find a cafe and an interesting temporary exhibition.

During our visit, this was the “Dream High” baseball exhibition, where you could see the historic ball hit by Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels.

We even had the opportunity of going up to floor 101, where besides enjoying the view, you can also take in the beautiful decor and greenery of the highest garden in the world.

Go sightseeing in Taipei 

Being the capital city of Taiwan, there are lots of great sights to explore in Taipei.

No Taiwan itinerary would be complete without a bit of time spent wandering around the streets of Taipei, exploring its temples, museums, shops, bars and restaurants.

Some of the most impressive sights we saw included Liberty Square (also known as Freedom Square), a big square where you will find the National Concert Hall, National Theatre and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.

In front of the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall they do the changing of the guard every hour on the hour, and it’s pretty impressive, so make sure to time your visit with it so you can see it!

It’s a very cool place to wander around for a bit and learn more about Taiwan’s history.

We also spent some time wandering around Shi-men Ting, a very cool neighbourhood and shopping district in Taipei.

It was actually the first pedestrian zone constructed in Taipei, and it’s a very nice area to walk around and check out some very iconic Taiwanese shops.

I was very surprised by the numerous arcades and claw machine shops. You could try your luck and win just about everything at these claw machines, from keychains to full on cooking sets!

I also really liked the variety of shops, from bigger international chains to more local handmade items at the market inside the Red House.

Hike at Beiguan Tidal Park

With its mountainous landscape and incredible views, Taiwan is the perfect destination for hikers and outdoors lovers.

There are loads of trails of varying difficulties, so no matter your fitness level, there will be a hike for you in Taiwan.

We did a short trail at Beiguan Tidal Park, and it was a great introduction to hiking in Taiwan. The trail is pretty easy, with minimal elevation change and lots of great viewing spots over the Taiwanese coastline.

Visit the National Center for Traditional Arts in Yilan

Located in Yilan, the National Center for Traditional Arts is a really interesting place to visit to learn more about Taiwan’s history, culture and traditional arts. 

It’s a reconstruction of a traditional village, with shops selling beautiful handmade art pieces, workshops where you can learn these art techniques, and stages where local artists perform dances, acrobatics, singing and creative works of all kinds.

And the cool thing is that there are many studios and workshops, where you can learn these arts from local experts.

For example we did a traditional herbal remedy workshop, where we made our own medical bath mix.

First they gave us an explanation of what each herb is for, showed us how to mix and grind them, and then we put together our own medical bath pouches.

It’s a fun opportunity to learn more about traditional herbal medicine, and create your own personalised souvenir to take home.

Try your hand at porcelain painting

Continuing on the theme of unique personalised souvenirs, another great activity you can do in Taiwan is a porcelain painting workshop. 

You get a bit of introduction to porcelain painting at the start, alongside an explanation and tips on how to best paint your mug, and then they leave you to your devices to express your art.

It’s a very fun activity, especially for a rainy day, as you can sit and relax in a beautiful venue, put your creativity to good use and create something you might not normally think about.

Enjoy the hot springs in Jiaoxi

Due to the seismic nature of Taiwan, there is lots of subterranean heat, which comes out across the island in the form of natural hot springs.

There are loads of hot springs all over Taiwan, so enjoying some down time in a hot spring should definitely feature on your Taiwan itinerary.

We had the opportunity to do so in Jiaoxi. Jiaoxi isn’t really on the main tourist trail, but it’s very famous for its beautiful hot springs.

We had the pleasure of enjoying private hot springs in our hotels (more on that in a bit) and also some pretty unique public hot springs.

I was so surprised to find a free foot hot spring in one of the parks in Jiaoxi. You could just rock up, take off your shoes and dip your feet in it.

It seemed to be very popular with locals, who were just hanging out there on a Saturday evening.

Besides the free foot hot spring there were also private ones you had to pay for, which had proper pools and onsens for you to dip in.

Whether you opt for the free or paid ones, relaxing in a hot spring is a great activity to do after a long day of exploring.

Visit a tea farm and try different teas

Tea is a pretty big deal in Taiwan, so you should definitely visit a tea farm while you’re there. 

We visited Hill Tea Hut, a tea farm where we first had the opportunity to explore the tea fields, pick our own leaves, prepare them and then try a variety of different teas.

We tried teas with different levels of fermentation, and it was interesting to taste the different flavours and how the intensity of the flavour changed depending on the fermentation level.

Visit Ikken Tea House

While we’re talking about tea, a special mention goes to Ikken House.

Ikken House is a Japanese-style structure, built in the 14th year of the Showa era (1939), where you can eat delicious food, learn about the history of this area, and taste a variety of different teas.

It was built by a Japanese mining company, which was commissioned by the Taiwanese government to expand the production of tea, tobacco and fresh produce of the local town.

Today it’s open to the public and you can explore its various halls, library, collections of art and historic artefacts from Pingxi’s development period, and enjoy the delicious food and tea offered here.

Do a Xiaolongbao Cooking Class

One of my favourite activities we did while in Taiwan was a cooking class, where we learnt to make xiaolongbao and bubble tea, two very iconic Taiwanese delicacies.

We did it at CookInn in Taiwan, and it was a very fun activity that lasted about two hours.

The team was super patient, first showing us each step of the process, and then going around the class and correcting and helping us as we got stuck. 

When they brought out the final cooked baos, I couldn’t believe how good they tasted! Admittedly my baos were a little wonky, and part of the soup had leaked out, but the flavour was still really good.

We also got to take home a little recipe book as souvenir, with step by step instruction on how to recreate the baos at home.

Overall it was a very fun experience, which gives you a glimpse into traditional Taiwanese culture and cuisine.

What to eat in Taiwan

During our Taiwan trip we had the opportunity to try a variety of dining experiences, from street food markets to fancy restaurants, and here are the ones that most stood out to me.

Xiaolongbao at Din Tai Fung

If your xiaolongbao’s don’t turn out quite right (like mine did, with the broth leaking out during the cooking) worry not, as you’ll be able to eat delicious xiaolongbaos elsewhere in Taiwan, like at Din Tai Fung.

Din Tai Fung is a Taiwanese restaurant that specialises in xiaolongbao, and which has now expanded to over 170 restaurants all over the world.

If you want to eat real xiaolongbao and for very affordable prices, this is the place to go.

We ate at the Taipei 101 shopping centre venue, where you can see the chefs as they make the xiaolongbaos (needless to say, they’re a lot faster and more precise than we were during our cooking class). 

I liked that they also had instructions at the table on how to eat xiaolongbaos, as it’s not something I would have otherwise known.

They’re called soup dumplings, so you’re supposed to first pierce a whole in the bao, drink the soup, and then eat the dumpling.

Luodong Night Market

Street food and night markets are a big part of Taiwanese culture, so make sure to visit at least one during your trip.

We visited Luodong Night Market, and it quickly became one of my favourite street food markets I ever visited.

Besides the food and atmosphere, I was very glad to see most stall owners and the people manipulating the food wore gloves, and overall it felt very clean and didn’t have the messy and chaotic vibe that many food markets in Asia tend to have.

There are loads of stalls selling a variety of different dishes, and you’ll find the local Taiwanese classics like stinky tofu, scallion pancake and pigs blood repeated at various stalls throughout the market.

My personal favourite was the scallion pancake. As the name suggests, stinky tofu is very stinky! The taste is also incredibly strong, personally I managed to try a bit of it, but some of my friends couldn’t even swallow it!

If you want to try something really unique and Taiwanese, then stinky tofu should definitely be on your bucket list.

Pro tip, the steamed version tastes and smells even stronger! If you want a milder one then get the fried stinky tofu.

Duck at Red Lantern Yilan 

Located inside the Silks Place hotel, the Red Lantern restaurant is famous for its Cherry Valley Roasted Duck Cuisine.

They serve a special duck menu where you first get some starters for the table, and the star of the dinner; the duck, is prepared in five different ways. My favourites were the duck skin nigiri and duck scallion pancake.

In 2012 the Red Lantern received a prize for the Best Roast Duck in Taiwan, and it definitely tasted like it! I also liked that the chefs came out to prepare it for us, so we could see their skills in action.

Frassi

Frassi is a Michelin Guide restaurant in Taipei created by an Italian chef, who cooks a fusion-style cuisine that combines Italian dishes with local Taiwanese ingredients.

The venue also reminds diners of Italy, with its Romanesque colonnade and domed ceiling.

Being Italian, I particularly enjoyed this meal. I also loved the open kitchen, as it gave you the opportunity to see the chefs as they prepared the delicious dishes we ate. And there were a lot of them!

It’s a set 7-course menu with wine pairings, and each dish was unique in its own way. It’s hard to say what my favourite dish was, but I’d say the duck breast and truffle pasta were probably the most impressive for me.

Where to stay in Taiwan

During our Taiwan trip we moved around a lot, and had the opportunity to stay at a few different hotels. Here are the best places to stay in Taiwan.

Grand Hotel Taipei

Besides being located in the centre of Taipei and having the most stunning lobby and interior decor, Grand Hotel Taipei also has a really interesting history.

There are escape tunnels under the hotel, which were built so that foreign dignitaries would have a quick escape route if any foreign attacks happened.

You can do a tour of the tunnels to see them, and enjoy drinks and nibbles at Meet Bar, a bar located under the hotel next to the tunnels.

Wellspring by Silks

This hotel was one of my favourites of the trip. Besides having beautiful spacious rooms and a delicious breakfast buffet, each room had its own private thermal spa bath on the balcony!

It was the perfect place to chill at the end of the day, and enjoy the medical herbal bath pouch I made during my workshop at the National Centre for Traditional Arts.

Hotel PIN Jiaoxi

Also located in Jiaoxi, this is another stunning property where each room has its own private thermal onsen.

They also have a communal thermal pool, and a massive breakfast buffet with both European and Asian options.

Episode Daan Taipei

Located in the heard of Taipei, this hotel has a very unique style and interior design, with quirky features and a bit of a different vibe.

They also have a great bar just by reception, where you can enjoy a fun happy hour and evening.

Final thoughts on the best things to do in Taiwan

That’s a wrap on your ultimate Taiwan travel guide! Have you been to Taiwan before? How did you find it? Let me know in the comments below!

Taiwan is a unique destination, which offers a bit of everything for everyone. The rich blend of beautiful nature views, unique cuisine, cultural traditions and modernity make it a really interesting place to discover.

I had wanted to visit Taiwan for a while now, so when the opportunity to visit with the Taiwan Tourism Board came along, I was pretty stoked about it.

We might not have visited all the tourist sights I would have chosen, but it was also great to see a side of Taiwan I would have otherwise missed.

I hope my Taiwan travel guide helps you plan your trip to this beautiful island. If you have any questions about travelling to Taiwan, just let me know in the comments below!

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